fitness (fitnes)

[ Fitne is so inseparable an accompaniment of beauty, that it has been taken for it. Emerson, Art, p. 47. In constructing an ideally perfect distribution of the means of happine , it seemed nece ary to take into account the notion (as I called it) of Fitne , which, though often confounded with Desert, seems e entially distinct from it. H. Sidgwick , Methods of Ethics, p. 330. One thing in life calls for another; there is a fitne in events and places. R. L. Stevens on, A Go ip on Romance. 2. The state of being fitted or qualified; requisite capacity; qualification: as, he lacks fitne for the place. To do its work well, an apparatus must po e special fitne for that work. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 301. fit-rod (fit'rod), n. In ship - building, a small iron rod, bent at one end to prevent it from slipping entirely into a deep hole, for insertion into the holes made in a ve el's sides in order to ascertain the required length of the bolts or treenails which are to be driven in.